Joshua David: Biography

I am an experienced creative director, design strategist, and principal-level designer focused on human-centered, iterative design methodologies and visual communication. I have worked with a wide variety of clients in the business, pharmaceutical, retail, and utility industries as well as in the academic and non-profit arenas. And I have experience with a wide variety of techniques and methodologies including: Digital strategy and branding, Web and interactive design, ideation, digital storytelling, visual communications design, mobile and 2D/3D animation.

I am actively involved in design research and design education, and have spoken about user experience, digital design and interactive strategy at local, national and international conferences for organizations such as Regan Communications, IBF, Melcrum Publishing, Capital University, The Ohio State University, and others.

I am an artist, a technologist, a writer, a gamer, a husband, a father, and an optimist. I live at the intersection of design and technology.

I am inspired by just about everything around me, and believe that there is always more to learn. I have a very cross-disciplinary approach to design, and am just as eager to talk about digital strategy, visual metaphors, or storytelling as I am about cognitive models or node-based compositing.

Design Strategy

Development and implementation of creative approaches for translating brands into strategic and tactical elements that resonate with the client and the customer. Areas of focus include: Social and emotional branding, digital strategy, design thinking and storytelling.

Teaching

Guest Lecturer: AdvertisingThe Columbus College of Art and Design November 15, 2011

Teacher: Interactive DesignThe Columbus College of Art and Design

January - May, 2012

August - December 2012

January - May 2013

January - May 2016

Teacher: Professional PracticesThe Columbus College of Art and Design 2014/2015

Design Philosophy

I believe that design is a cross-disciplinary activity that focuses on enabling human interaction in a useful and engaging way.

Because human interaction is an inherently dynamic force (ever-changing and emotional), design needs to embrace dynamic perspectives, re-defining itself as necessary. It can be (at different times and in different situations) a product, a service, a form of communication, a form of collaboration, an identity, a project, a discourse, research, theory, and many other things.

I believe that there is a need for more critical discourse in the field of design as a whole. There is a need to elevate our discipline from that of a craft to a profession. We can do this in a number of ways:

By engaging in a critique of design, designers and design processes to help us understand our field, our influences and our community.

By participating in design research activities that help us understand how people use design, and how the things we create impact our society.

By supporting cross-disciplinary research activities, in collaboration with other fields, to help us better understand the physical, mental and emotional makeup of humans.

I believe that a design process (any design process) acquires a magnitude of strength through its ability to be flexible and adaptable.

A design process should be iterative and experimental.

The ability to accept when something is not working, and having the willingness to throw it out and try something new, is an honorable trait.